And I’m done with the series—or at least done with what I’m planning to read.
Although, I just found the fifth book and it has a librarian in it! The one thing that I thought was missing from the series was a hockey player falling for someone who WASN’T A HOCKEY PLAYER. It was all too neatly tied up with everyone being hockey players and mostly understanding each other. We’ll see, maybe I’ll come back for that fifth one at some point.
These last two books in the series were well written and had strong character development, we continued to see cameos from the first two books and that kept me reading more than I thought it would. These were a couple of the lines across the two that I found to be quite humorous:
“Fucking shit, he was going to have to buy a gift for someone who legitimately had a subscription to Consumer Reports—a man who Max was in love with and who could not find that out. Max’s life was officially the worst.” (Unrivaled, 195)
“Look. There’s not a wrong way to be queer, all right? Married, celibate, unrepentant slut—none of those things means setting a better example than the others.” (Crushed Ice, 161)
“‘Don’t borrow trouble.’ He paused. ‘That’s trouble with a lowercase T. Not Trouble Trouble. You wouldn’t have to borrow him, I think you’re in the lease-to-own option.'” (348)
What I truly appreciated, however, were the knitting and Pride and Prejudice shoutouts. I mean I’ve come to expect them across the female written MM romance universe, but in a hockey romance I was pleasantly surprised:
“When he entered the house, Max was sitting in the living room in his boxers, eating a bowl of cereal. He paused the TV and looked up when Grady entered.
Grady looked over Max’s shoulder at the TV screen. Apparently he was fifty-seven minutes into Pride & Prejudice.
‘Don’t judge me.’ (Unrivaled, 185)
“His seatmate was an older woman knitting something in bright pinks and purples. The project spilled across her lap and into a bulging bag at her feet. When Liam finally sat down, panting slightly, she looked up at him and flashed a knowing smile. ‘Long goodbye?’
Caught out, Liam laughed and leaned into the seat. ‘Long good morning.'” (Crushed Ice, 281)
And I have to appreciate that in Unrivaled, Kane and James walked the walk on verse characters. Their characters mentioned swapping and they did and it was well written. Too many times it’s just a mimicry of the same scene but in reverse, there were subtle differences that I appreciated. Add in that they also flagged that one of the protagonists’ sisters was in a polyamorous relationship and I was like okay, I see you.
The one thing, however, across all the books that was not great for me, was the length of the chapters. I mean I get it, it’s very clear they’re a nod to hockey’s three periods, but OMFG they were too long. They did an okay job of breaking up the scenes within these ridiculously long chapters, but there were also moments that felt like they could’ve been three or four different chapters within 15-20 pages of each other. I think the authors committed to a bit and didn’t want to move past it and it made it a bit of a slog these last few books knowing I wouldn’t have a clear breakpoint when reading.
Recommendation: Overall, the series is a pass for me. They were well enough written, but the slog to get through the hockey-aligned format with so few chapters really was too much. I also think—and this is 100% on me as I read them back to back—they got a little repetitive toward the end. Not necessarily character or story wise, but there was little to surprise me or keep me engaged at the end and I was just pushing to get through them.
Unrivaled Opening Line: “WOW, TRY to look less like you’re having fun.”
Unrivaled Closing Line: “Then he slid his hand down and discreetly patted Max’s leggings above the tattoo of Larry. ‘Besides, you know I can’t resist fresh lobster.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Unrivaled
“There was a strong legacy of American and Canadian female hockey players marrying each other. More recently, a few male couples had joined them.” (16)
“Baller would never let anyone forget it. He’d appointed himself the league’s queer mascot.” (37)
“Fortunately Max had plenty of experience antagonizing men into doing what he wanted. Getting a guy to fuck you and slap your ass wasn’t all that different from getting one to crosscheck you and punch you in the face.” (56)
“Whatever that feeling was when Grady complimented him sincerely, it needed to go back in the box.” (93)
“‘Fuck you,’ Max said, but his voice was breathy, with only the hint of a snarl. Grady shifted closer and leveraged Max’s hips up with his thighs so his ass was in the air, weight on his shoulders. He looked amazing.
‘Maybe next time.’ Grady thrust experimentally.
Max muffled a noise in his pillow.” (102)
“‘We’re gonna come back to why you knew before I did, but let’s focus on the crisis at hand.’
‘It’s because your wife’s tits got bigger and I noticed.’
Now Hedgie was the one with his hand over his eyes.
‘You’re the worst gay best friend ever.’
‘I’m bi,’ Max said. ‘And my eyes work fine.’ (146)
“The thing was, Grady was still a prickly, perpetually annoyed asshole. But Max treated him like a person anyway, and Grady didn’t want to give that up.” (211)
“He feels safe? He’s kind and generous and makes me laugh? He helps me remember what it’s like to be able to rely on someone other than you?” (227)
“‘I should be the lobster,’ Grady repeated quietly when Max’s fingers traced down the side of his face. ‘You crack me open.'” (Unrivaled, 231)
“‘I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life getting you to pretend you’re annoyed with me. I know all this started with a stupid bet, but I think I’m in love with you. I think you’re in love with me too.” (238)
“‘Oh, yeah, that reminds me,’ said Baltierra from the front seat.
‘You can use my nickname around the team, but try not to around the kid. It gets awkward when strangers think she’s talking about my testicles.’
‘Tetticles!’ Reyna agreed loudly.
They stopped at a light. Gabe covered his eyes with one hand, and his shoulders shook with silent laughter.” (280)
“They were both shaky when Grady untied him. He made a wry face as he tossed the silk into the trash.
‘I think I owe you a new tie.’ Max collapsed face-first onto the mattress.
‘Call it even.’ He never wanted to move.
‘Feel free to defile all of my ties. I’ll start buying them at Costco.’
‘Absolutely not.’ Grady lay down beside him, still breathing heavily. Max turned onto his side to look at him.
‘No boyfriend of mine will be seen with a bulk-purchased tie. What would people say. I’m putting my foot down.'” (304)
Crushed Ice Opening Line: “The Lyft pulled into the driveway of Russ’s Miami house in the middle of a September downpour.”
Crushed Ice Closing Line: “Liam laced their fingers together. ‘Look on the bright side,’ he said. ‘Maybe we get locked in the pantry again.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.
Additional Quotes from Crushed Ice
“Being a Black athlete in a predominantly white sport didn’t help. It had taken five years to convince his mom and dad he was serious about his plan and another to prove he could make it and thrive.” (5)
“He definitely didn’t need to worry about collecting his used condom after a one-night stand in case his partner tried to use the sperm inside it to baby-trap him.
‘What the fuck,’ he hissed to Dante Baltierra, who happened to be seated beside him.
‘Do people do this shit? I don’t believe it. Like . . . this feels misogynistic.’
‘Don’t look at me,’ Baller replied under his breath.
‘Gabe and I can’t even get pregnant the old-fashioned way.’ Liam filed the whole thing under weird straight-people problems and closed his eyes to get a few minutes’ rest.” (30)
“Liam was twenty-two years old. Pretty much everything turned him on. But the way his cock jerked at the touch of Russ’s hand on his ankle made him feel like a swooning Victorian maiden. For a hot second, he worried he’d developed a fetish about having his feet touched, but then Russ put his other hand on his knee while he was working the shoe off, and nope, false alarm, it was a Russ thing.” (135)
“Even if talking on the phone was super 2001, it was better than texting. Who knew?” (170)
“Russ had never believed in failing up, but that was before he failed at not having sex so badly he’d ended up in a relationship.” (281)
“Now he couldn’t help but think about how much he liked Florida. Not the weather, which was too hot and prone to hurricanes, or the politics, which were just that side of batshit fuckery. But he did like the beach and the food, and if he couldn’t share a team with Liam, then sharing a state with him was the next best thing. If he couldn’t stay in Miami, Tampa wouldn’t be so bad.” (283)